Coercive diplomacy in Russian security strategy

WithStanislav L. Tkachenko

The foreign and security policy of the Russia Federation in the 1990s was reactive, and its role in the international security system was gradually declining. Coercive diplomacy/forceful persuasion, is the attempt to get a target – a state, a group within a state or a non-state actor – to change its objectionable behaviour through either the threat to use force or the actual use of limited force. The notion that the strategic purpose of coercive diplomacy is to change the policies of other states, and the major instrument for that is the threat of the immediate use of military force, has become widespread in academic literature. Game theory, which is at the heart of the coercive diplomacy studies, requires the establishment of a channel of communication between opponents. Coercive diplomacy is a privilege enjoyed by genuinely sovereign states, their distinguishing marker in contemporary politics. The genesis of Russia’s coercive diplomacy reflects the evolution of the worldview of Russia’s Foreign Service.